Painted turtles are geographically the
most widely distributed water turtles in North America.They are high spirited, high energy, and
very cold tolerant turtles who are very prolific.They make excellent pets. Some become very
docile while others remain high spirited.It is the high spirit that makes them very
entertaining pet turtles.

Here in Pennsylvania we have eastern and
Midland painted turtles living together and interbreeding.It is common to get
both subspecies from the same clutch of eggs.The easiest way to
tell them apart is by markings on their plastrons. Eastern painted turtles
haveno markings and Midland
painted turtles have dark markings that may fade with age.

Painted turtles are in the family Emydidae,
genus Chrysemys, and species picta.When the scientific name is written the
species, picta, is abbreviated as "p.".

Lilybell,
from a juvenile to an adult female. | pic 1
|
pic 2 | pic 3
| pic 4 | pic 5
| pic 6 | pic 7
| pic 8 | pic 9
| pic 10 |Lilybell has a faint pattern
of a Midland painted turtle on her plastron and the bars of an eastern
painted turtle on her carapace. She looked more like a Midland as a juvenile
and more like an eastern as an adult. She surely has the genes of both.